By Trevor Zickgraf, Project Spurs.comWhen the San Antonio Spurs traded Richard Jefferson for Stephen Jackson, one of the benefits was Jackson's contract had one less year on it, giving the Spurs more financial flexibility moving forward. Between Jackson's $10 million and Manu Ginobili's $14 million, one would think the Spurs have room to make some moves this summer via free agency or trading for a guy and using the cap room to sign a guy like Paul Milsap or even Josh Smith. Alas, the NBA salary cap is not that simple. Long story short, the Spurs need to figure out how much they're going to pay Manu Ginobili next year before any other moves are made.
Right now, the Spurs have a combined $30 million in contracts coming off the books this summer. That's Manu, Jackson, Tiago Splitter (restricted free agent), DeJuan Blair (restricted) and Gary Neal (restricted). Matt Bonner's contract is only guaranteed for $1 million if he's waived by June 29th, so that could be an extra $3 million off the books. Additionally, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills have player options on their deals. We'll assume they don't opt of their deals but the Spurs do waive Bonner and say they have approximately $33 million in expiring contracts which would get them about $23 million in cap space.
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